Starting position #631
Back-rank setup: RNBKQRNB
SP-631 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on e1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from d1 to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 226.
The engine's main line opens with Nc3, bringing the knight out to c3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 86 Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 128 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (42 half-moves): +20 → +25 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 55): +11 cp, -4 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #226
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and f
- It becomes the daily position in 463 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (d4·30) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d4 (f3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (f4·28) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b7 (h1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to a2 (b1·15) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to c4 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: bishop to c6 (h1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: queen to a4 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 3: knight to e6 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c6 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 71
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Commentary
The engine opens with a knight, Nc3 — the one from b1, with the second on g1. The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from d1. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on c1. The pawn on h2 has no defender, and c2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on e1 beside her king, and the line runs Nc3 Nc6 f4 g6 Nf3 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.